The temperatures were mild this week and while I was out fishing, I could just feel autumn in the air with every gust of wind. At times this week I would get a quick whiff of that autumn air, and the faint smell of memories long past would resurface in my mind, memories of fishing that haven’t been long forgotten. I remembered my time out west at the San Luis reservoir in early fall, camping, catching stripers out of an old Bass Tracker and the smell of our smoldering campfire on a chilly autumn morning. There was the marsh in Louisiana in the early fall and catching specked trout by the dozens as they made their way back into the maze of canals, surrounding the end of the line for the mighty Mississippi. A popping cork, a jig head and a pound of fresh shrimp is all you needed for a fish fry Cajun style. If you got 2lbs of fresh shrimp, you could take one pound back home to have with your fried trout dinner. I remember walking out onto the big wood deck at our fish camp and watching the sunrise over the Louisiana marsh with my first cup of coffee early in the morning. I remember cool fall mornings more recently, running and gunning topwater stripers on Lake Lanier with Lisa and having a blast watching the fish blow up on Lisa’s bait. It was a good week for looking back at autumn memories and making a few more.

If I had to rate my week of fishing, this week I’d have to give it about 3 and a half stars. It had its ups and downs, at times it was a challenge, but I still found a few fish in the process. This week I was torn between topwater and the spinnerbait bite. What made it even worse was that you had to lead with one or the other when approaching a location and I couldn’t get a lot of success with using both. If I used the topwater for a few casts to start with, they wouldn’t react to a subsequent spinnerbait offering. If I started with the spinnerbait, they wouldn’t touch a subsequent topwater bait. It was either one or the other, and generally speaking, it was usually the first offering that had the most success. Both baits gave me a thrill, so it wasn’t hard to choose one or the other. The biggest problem I had this week was bait supply due to some unforeseen breakoffs which I don’t normally deal with. With each breakoff, the lure is usually gone, and I was down to bare bones this week with my riser, Ima and spinnerbait supply. I don’t think the breakoffs was a problem with line, but it was a problem with the user not changing out leaders and a few feet of braid periodically. I’m making a lot of casts in a days’ time and that first 10-15 feet of line gets the worst eyelet rub and wears out faster. The fluorocarbon leader gets nicks and abrasions from time and also needs to be replaced often. The problem is that sometimes I’m a procrastinator and I tend to blow these things off until I break off a 4+ pound fish and then I decide to freshen my line.

There were 3 baits on my deck this week and thanks to my buddy Jeff Nail returning from the farm, I got a re-stock on the water mid-week. The mid-week restock of risers and Ima ko’s from Lip Thrashin Lures were pretty instrumental in my topwater endeavors. That little chrome riser has been deadly for me and for good reason. A lot of the bass are chasing threadfin in the creek right now and the smaller baits tend to rule. Don’t get me wrong, the bigger baits have been producing some giant fish, especially the fish that are feeding on herring. I’ve caught some bass this week that harked up some big herring so either bait size can be successful. The cool part about Chuck Trasher’s little chrome Riser bait is that it tends to mimic a small threadfin on the surface, and it moves fast enough on the retrieve to cause a reaction strike around these wolfpacks of bass. The key to the riser retrieve is to go fast enough to keep it on the surface, but slow enough to maintain the waggling action of the bait caused by the blade on the front. Keep in mind that the heavier you go with your leader, the less action the bait will have. I used a Tatsu 10lb flouro leader and that size still gave the bait decent action although I wouldn’t recommend going any higher. Long casts are also key to using this bait. A bass or group of bass may follow the bait for 100+ feet before deciding to react to it. The longer the bait is in the water, the better chance you have of finding a fish or a fish finding your bait. I started with the little chrome riser on Monday, but I lost the last one I had to a breakoff. I dug around in the boat and found a clear riser, which I had never used before, I had only used chrome up to this point, but I tied it on and went to work. Here’s a picture of the clear riser I was using.

The clear riser picked up right where the little chrome riser left off and I was back in business catching bass over brush and on points. It was short lived though as the new clear riser broke off early in the morning on Tuesday. I was out of risers.

Another bait that has been a lot of fun for me this week is the Mini Me spinnerbait. I had 3 spinnerbaits in the boat last week and I was down to 1 this week. My favorite is the 3/4 ounce in the shad pattern pictured below but I only used the 1/2 ounce this week. I guess the moral of the story is that either will work because I caught fish with both. The only difference was the sink rate, so I gave the 1/2 ounce a 15 count, vice the 10 count I’ve been giving the 3/4 ounce.

I’m a sucker for that topwater bite but I gotta admit that the spinnerbait bite for me is a very close second to the topwater explosions in the fall. There were times this week that I put the topwater rod down and just threw the spinnerbait. Almost every time I picked it up this week, I found success. I got to the point of using the FFS to locate this fish but then I’d turn the transducer away from the fish and make my cast. I really liked the surprise of the rod loading up with a big bass on the spinnerbait and not using FFS added to the surprise. I caught fish every day I was out this week on Ryan Coleman’s SpotSticker Mini Me and it’s always been my “go to” spinnerbait in the spring and fall, especially with these windy days. You gotta be throwing a spinnerbait on windy days, that’s all there is to it! Same areas that I’m throwing the topwater produced with the spinnerbait, over brush. One exception is that I caught some fish up shallow on the spinnerbait this week as there is a growing population of shallower fish to target, especially early in the mornings. For me this week the topwater didn’t really get good till the day progressed and the spinnerbait was a good bait to use early before the topwater started. The little Mini Me came in a close second to the riser this week in terms of fish and excitement and I really don’t know which thrilled me the most, the feel of a fish slamming the spinnerbait and the rod suddenly doubling over or watching the surface explode engulfing the little riser.

The third bait I used this week was for the herring eaters and it was another one of Chuck Thrasher’s Lip Thrashin creations, the chrome Ima Skimmer knock off. When I ran out of risers, I picked up my Ima ko and went threw it around. The best retrieve I found for the Ima was fast, just like the name says, Skimmer. I was skimming it and killing it on the surface and forcing the fish to chase it down and killing it sometimes triggered the reaction. It worked well, especially in the wind this week and some of the blowups I got were incredible. Jeff Nail and I were out on the 11th, and we found a school of bass and stripers that were mixed in and I used the Ima ko for both bass and stripers. On one cast I’d bring in a striper and a bass on the very next cast. The Ima ko was a great backup bait for my lack of riser’s this week. Here’s a picture of my favorite Ima.

I gotta thank Jeff Nail for my “on the water” re-stock this week and Chuck Thrasher for a big restock for following weeks. I also gotta thank Ryan Coleman and SpotSticker baits for the awesome spinnerbaits and keeping me going throwing them in the spring and fall!

Water temps have broken into the mid to upper 70’s now and after this stint of bad weather passes, we should be in for more great autumn fishing next week. The lake is over 3 feet down and still falling. We desperately need some rain, mainly because I don’t want to move my dock again. The best 3 baits this week was the Riser, the Mini Me and the Ima ko in that order. You can find these at Lip Thrashin Lures and SpotSticker Baits. Here’s a few of my memorable fish from the week.